Sports-tech brand Dream Sports, which operates the online fantasy platform Dream11, has secured an $840 million investment in fresh round headed by Falcon Edge, DST Global, D1 Capital, Redbird Capital and Tiger Global. The round also witnessed participation from current investors TPG and Footpath Ventures.
The round evaluates the company at $8 billion, up from $5 billion in March 2021 when it raised $400 million in secondary funding.
“Our vision and mission is to create an entrepreneur-led virtuous cycle of investment, innovation and wealth creation for all stakeholders in the sports ecosystem, from fans to athletes, teams and leagues. Our investors have deep experience in developing sports ecosystems globally, and we are fortunate to have their guidance to ‘Make Sports Better’ for 1 Billion Indian sports fans,” stated Harsh Jain, CEO and co-founder, Dream Sports.
RELATED: Dream11 Reportedly Paid 2 Crore to rope in TikToker Khaby Lame
Established in 2008 by Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth, Dream Sports houses brands such as sports content and trade platform FanCode, its corporate enterprise and M&A arm Dream Capital, sports experiences platform DreamSetGo, game publisher Dream Game Studios, and payment solutions provider DreamPay, aside from Dream11.
Avendus Capital was the exclusive financial counsel on the transaction.
Earlier this year, Dream Sports had also allocated $250 million to Dream Capital that has built up a portfolio of 10 early-stage startups including Fittr, SoStronk, KheloMore and Elevar. Dream Capital now intends to extend its sports, fan engagement and fitness portfolio in India and worldwide.
“We’re excited to partner with the Dream Sports family in their vision of building the leading end-to-end sports tech company in India,” remarked Rahul Mehta, managing partner at DST Global. “We’re very impressed with their customer-centric approach, product strategy and ability to strengthen connections between fans and their favourite sports.”
ALSO READ: Dream11 Creates GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ For Largest Online Fantasy Cricket Match
For the financial year ending March 2020, Dream Sports posted a profit of Rs 180.8 crore, making it one of India’s rare consumer-focused startup unicorns that have recorded a profit.
The firm’s operational revenue surged to Rs 2,070.4 crore in FY20, from Rs 775.5 crore in FY19. It attributed the revenue increase to new products and “innovative marketing strategies”.
Dream11 contributed heavily on advertising and promotions during the fiscal, in a bid to gain on the surge in mobile gaming in the nation between the pandemic-induced lockdown and also push app installs since it is not available on Google’s Play Store.
